UT Chancellor Should Be All VOL
I have watched the search process for a new UT Knoxville Chancellor with excited anticipation at the possibilities that could occur. I now fear that I will only be disappointed with the choice being made by a professional head hunter group.
Nowhere in the list of candidates that has been released has there been a graduate of UTK. Now many people will tell you that it is more important to find someone with the proper academic qualifications and a past history of teaching, fund-raising, and management experience to take the reins at the Knoxville Campus. To them I would say we have tried that and the results were abysmal.
UT Knoxville needs a leader who has gone through the UT Knoxville experience as a student if he/she is to relate to the students on campus. We need a leader that understands the inter-relationship of the campus with the City of Knoxville, the farmers in Tennessee, the business community, and the Oak Ridge laboratory.
The news reports and press conferences that I have seen show UT Knoxville bringing in candidates to meet with faculty and staff, maintenance workers, and student representatives. What is the purpose of having a search committee if they are just going to gauge public response and pick the least objectionable candidate?
UTK needs leadership and needs a strong presence as the head of the University. My fear is that they are looking for a mouthpiece and a PR manager. What we need is the next Andy Holt, Ed Boling, or Jack Reese. For now, the Alumni wait to see.
Showing posts with label Knoxville. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Knoxville. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Friday, May 20, 2011
Failure to Yield: It's Epidemic
From my office window, I have an excellent view of a quarter mile section of the westbound lane of I-40 through West Knoxville. Almost daily, and often more than once, motorists are pulled to the side of the road and issued a traffic citation for speeding. However, Failure to Yield is the true root of the traffic problems and road rage on our highways.
What is Failure to Yield? It’s driving in the left hand lane when traffic is backed up behind you, or the right lane is clear. It’s turning on your indicator and assuming you have the right to pull over. It’s pulling from an on ramp into traffic at 20 miles an hour below the posted speed. For the purpose of this article let’s focus on the left hand lane; the passing lane.
Just so you know I drive fast. In my defense, I walk fast too. The fact that someone drives faster than you, or the speed limit, doesn’t give you the right to tie up the left hand lane. I have a good friend that refers to their self as a “blocker.” He believes that it is his duty to slow traffic down in the left hand lane. The left hand lane is a passing lane. The sole purpose of this lane is to allow traffic to flow unimpeded. If you drive in the left hand lane you will notice a sign in the median that says, “Slower Traffic Keep Right.”
My wife would say, just pass them on the right, what’s the big deal. The big deal is I already know they can’t drive and to pass them on the right puts me in their blind spot. It causes me to merge into slower traffic and find enough room to get around them, when they are going the speed of traffic in the right hand lane already. And, it’s illegal to pass someone on the right hand side. That’s why we have a passing lane. Unfortunately, one does not have to venture very far to observe the behavior of these “blockers.”
Take Pellissippi Parkway from I-40 towards Maryville any weekday afternoon and you will observe far more traffic in the left hand lane than in the right. Oddly enough, I have noticed a pattern that many of these individuals have Blount County tags (that’s a tip for the officers in the area). You will notice a pattern of 8 to 10 cars in a line in the left hand lane and 2-3 in the same section of roadway in the right hand lane. This is what causes road rage. This is what causes accidents. So, how do you prevent it?
I would estimate that the Knoxville Police Department generates nearly $10 million each year in revenue from citations issued. This information used to be published in an annual report. Somewhere in the last 30 years that document went from being an accounting document showing revenue and expenses, to being a slick PR piece. If a breakdown was available of the number of citations issued for speeding versus those issued for failure to yield, I’m sure you would see why this is an epidemic problem on our roadways today.
This is not just a local problem. You can see this pattern on any interstate in the country today, no matter where you drive. The problem is not caused by our law enforcement officers it is the fault of the individuals oblivious to those behind them. So, if you are one of these “blockers”, move over. Your actions are just as illegal as the person behind you trying to pass.
This blog is the personal opinion of the writer and is published as editorial comment.
What is Failure to Yield? It’s driving in the left hand lane when traffic is backed up behind you, or the right lane is clear. It’s turning on your indicator and assuming you have the right to pull over. It’s pulling from an on ramp into traffic at 20 miles an hour below the posted speed. For the purpose of this article let’s focus on the left hand lane; the passing lane.
Just so you know I drive fast. In my defense, I walk fast too. The fact that someone drives faster than you, or the speed limit, doesn’t give you the right to tie up the left hand lane. I have a good friend that refers to their self as a “blocker.” He believes that it is his duty to slow traffic down in the left hand lane. The left hand lane is a passing lane. The sole purpose of this lane is to allow traffic to flow unimpeded. If you drive in the left hand lane you will notice a sign in the median that says, “Slower Traffic Keep Right.”
My wife would say, just pass them on the right, what’s the big deal. The big deal is I already know they can’t drive and to pass them on the right puts me in their blind spot. It causes me to merge into slower traffic and find enough room to get around them, when they are going the speed of traffic in the right hand lane already. And, it’s illegal to pass someone on the right hand side. That’s why we have a passing lane. Unfortunately, one does not have to venture very far to observe the behavior of these “blockers.”
Take Pellissippi Parkway from I-40 towards Maryville any weekday afternoon and you will observe far more traffic in the left hand lane than in the right. Oddly enough, I have noticed a pattern that many of these individuals have Blount County tags (that’s a tip for the officers in the area). You will notice a pattern of 8 to 10 cars in a line in the left hand lane and 2-3 in the same section of roadway in the right hand lane. This is what causes road rage. This is what causes accidents. So, how do you prevent it?
I would estimate that the Knoxville Police Department generates nearly $10 million each year in revenue from citations issued. This information used to be published in an annual report. Somewhere in the last 30 years that document went from being an accounting document showing revenue and expenses, to being a slick PR piece. If a breakdown was available of the number of citations issued for speeding versus those issued for failure to yield, I’m sure you would see why this is an epidemic problem on our roadways today.
This is not just a local problem. You can see this pattern on any interstate in the country today, no matter where you drive. The problem is not caused by our law enforcement officers it is the fault of the individuals oblivious to those behind them. So, if you are one of these “blockers”, move over. Your actions are just as illegal as the person behind you trying to pass.
This blog is the personal opinion of the writer and is published as editorial comment.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Tree Topping Hurts?
Recently the Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB) has been in a battle with a prominent local citizen over their tree trimming policy. KUB has been working on “preventive maintenance” to lessen the effects of storms on power outages; by trimming nearby trees away from the utilities right of way they hope to lessen the power outages caused by trees and limbs falling on power lines during thunderstorms and when it snows.
A prominent local citizen feels infringed upon because one of the trees they want to trim is in his yard. This created a review process that the utility is undergoing to justify their policy and to provide a citizen forum to implement future public policy regarding the protection of KUB’s right of way. So, what does this mean to the average citizen, or more importantly, where will we see utility rates go from here?
Obviously, power outages are inconvenient to us all. They cause accidents when traffic signals fail and they cause hardships on businesses and families. KUB attempts to prevent these outages by clearing away limbs and trees that, during a storm, would blow, sway, or fall and interfere with the power lines themselves.
Preventive clearing of these obstacles is cheaper, because crews are not on overtime and the work can be scheduled in an orderly fashion. If the door is opened for customers to contest this process, then the utility will have to “request permission” from the homeowner before they can clear a right of way they have already compensated the homeowner for in the past. This will lead to higher rates as KUB implements additional procedures and legal obstacles to reduce damage to power lines and equipment. So what is the answer?
Maybe homeowners should have to sign a waiver accepting any liability for the expense of clearing the power line during a storm and assume the liability to citizens for any damage caused by the power outage. Maybe because you were fixing dinner for an important family function or client, you can sue the owner of the tree because they didn’t let KUB prevent the power outage in the first place. Or perhaps KUB should charge the replacement of transformers and power poles to those homeowners that don't keep the right away clear themselves.
In the end, the only ones that will benefit are the lawyers that represent each side.
A prominent local citizen feels infringed upon because one of the trees they want to trim is in his yard. This created a review process that the utility is undergoing to justify their policy and to provide a citizen forum to implement future public policy regarding the protection of KUB’s right of way. So, what does this mean to the average citizen, or more importantly, where will we see utility rates go from here?
Obviously, power outages are inconvenient to us all. They cause accidents when traffic signals fail and they cause hardships on businesses and families. KUB attempts to prevent these outages by clearing away limbs and trees that, during a storm, would blow, sway, or fall and interfere with the power lines themselves.
Preventive clearing of these obstacles is cheaper, because crews are not on overtime and the work can be scheduled in an orderly fashion. If the door is opened for customers to contest this process, then the utility will have to “request permission” from the homeowner before they can clear a right of way they have already compensated the homeowner for in the past. This will lead to higher rates as KUB implements additional procedures and legal obstacles to reduce damage to power lines and equipment. So what is the answer?
Maybe homeowners should have to sign a waiver accepting any liability for the expense of clearing the power line during a storm and assume the liability to citizens for any damage caused by the power outage. Maybe because you were fixing dinner for an important family function or client, you can sue the owner of the tree because they didn’t let KUB prevent the power outage in the first place. Or perhaps KUB should charge the replacement of transformers and power poles to those homeowners that don't keep the right away clear themselves.
In the end, the only ones that will benefit are the lawyers that represent each side.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Shouldn't Everyone be Rated?
Someone recently reminded me of an old joke that goes like this: What do you call the person that graduated last in their class from Medical School? The Answer: Doctor.
We have a news program in town that goes around and looks at restaurants with particular attention paid to their Health Inspection rating. They point out those establishments that didn’t make the grade and why. I have noticed recently that they also point out those that scored exceptionally high in their inspection. One guy in my office used to always point out which restaurants had the worst score that week, saying, “Don’t go there.”
It seems to make sense to me that after a bad score is reported would be just the time to go there. Isn’t the purpose of an inspection to correct the problems? Do you think the manager, or owner, just says, “Whatever?” So why do we look only at restaurants?
Wouldn’t you like to see a rating on other businesses that are inspected? What other businesses are inspected? I know that Hair Salons/Barber Shops are inspected. Do they fair well? What about meat packing/processing companies? The butcher at the grocery, I bet they have inspections.
We could post numbers outside of the building “Rating this Week: 84.” You could just keep driving down the road until you came to a really high score. I ate at a very popular restaurant many years ago and had a roach crawl across my table. As I got up to pay the bill, I expressed my concern to the owner. He responded politely, “Yeah, they sprayed last night.” Shouldn’t that receive a number outside the building?
If we are really so concerned about ratings shouldn’t we know where our Doctor finished in school?
This blog is for entertainment purposes only and is the opinion of the writer. If any names were used, it was only as a reference point and no harm was intended.
We have a news program in town that goes around and looks at restaurants with particular attention paid to their Health Inspection rating. They point out those establishments that didn’t make the grade and why. I have noticed recently that they also point out those that scored exceptionally high in their inspection. One guy in my office used to always point out which restaurants had the worst score that week, saying, “Don’t go there.”
It seems to make sense to me that after a bad score is reported would be just the time to go there. Isn’t the purpose of an inspection to correct the problems? Do you think the manager, or owner, just says, “Whatever?” So why do we look only at restaurants?
Wouldn’t you like to see a rating on other businesses that are inspected? What other businesses are inspected? I know that Hair Salons/Barber Shops are inspected. Do they fair well? What about meat packing/processing companies? The butcher at the grocery, I bet they have inspections.
We could post numbers outside of the building “Rating this Week: 84.” You could just keep driving down the road until you came to a really high score. I ate at a very popular restaurant many years ago and had a roach crawl across my table. As I got up to pay the bill, I expressed my concern to the owner. He responded politely, “Yeah, they sprayed last night.” Shouldn’t that receive a number outside the building?
If we are really so concerned about ratings shouldn’t we know where our Doctor finished in school?
This blog is for entertainment purposes only and is the opinion of the writer. If any names were used, it was only as a reference point and no harm was intended.
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